The head of the Commonwealth public service has just made an extraordinary decision, with profound implications for the independence of our public broadcasters – and nobody, so far, is blaming him for it. But we should.

Whatever you think of Kevin Rudd’s competence as prime minister, he surely is entitled to be regarded as one the least narrowly partisan holders of that office since Federation.

If he really thinks that these two are the most suitable people in Australia to ensure that appointments to the ABC and SBS boards are, and are seen to be, merit-based and non-partisan, he is profoundly stupid.

This is the man who appointed Peter Costello to the board of the Future Fund, who retained Amanda Vanstone as our ambassador in Rome, appointed Tim Fischer to be ambassador to the Holy See, Brendan Nelson to the European Union.

In 2008, just months after he won government, he championed amendments to the Acts governing the public broadcasters, designed to ensure that partisan political appointments to their boards ceased.

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They’d been going on for decades. Both parties have stuffed the ABC and SBS boards with their supporters – either as a reward for past loyalty, or to try to ensure that the broadcasters’ output better reflected the views of their side of politics.

The Howard government’s appointments to the ABC Board were especially blatant. The prime qualification of columnist Janet Albrechtsen, for example, appeared to be her frequently declared conviction that the ABC was all but irredeemably biased to the left.

Under the Rudd government’s new rules, recommendations for ABC and SBS Board appointments are made by a Nomination Panel, which is obliged to draw up a shortlist on the basis of competitive merit, against selection criteria laid down by the minister for communications.

Members of that panel are appointed, not by the government, but by the aforementioned head of the public service, the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, who is currently Dr Ian Watt.

The four members of the panel, until now, have been precisely the sort of people you would expect: public servant and diplomat Ric Smith; networker and Mr Fixit extraordinaire David Gonski; former ACCC chairman Allan Fels; former governor of Queensland Leneen Forde. All people of eminence and achievement, with no obvious political leanings.

But now Dr Watt has replaced Fels and Forde, whose terms have expired, with Albrechtsen and Neil Brown QC. Brown is, if anything, an even more partisan detractor of the ABC than Albrechsten. A former Liberal Party deputy leader and minister of communications, he fulminates in the Spectator Australia most weeks about the Corporation’s manifold sins and wickedness. In fact, he reckons, it would be simplest to sell it off and start again.

Albrechtsen and Brown are two dyed-in-the-wool culture warriors from a long way to the right of the political centre. All the evidence shows that only a small minority of Australians share their views about the ABC.

Their appointment to the nomination panel is announced in a bald statement on the PM&C website. Dr Watt does not explain his choice. Under the legislation, he is under no obligation to do so. But he should.

After all, according to the spirit and the letter of the legislation, he is supposed to make these appointments according to his own judgment. The views of the prime minister, or of the government in general, should have no influence on him. The minister for communications, Malcolm Turnbull, tells us that “you have to assume” that no such influence has been brought to bear.

So, in the absence of any other explanation, we are entitled to draw the conclusion that Dr Watt is either profoundly stupid, or pusillanimous.

If he really thinks that these two are the most suitable people in Australia to ensure that appointments to the ABC and SBS boards are, and are seen to be, merit-based and non-partisan, he is profoundly stupid.

If, on the other hand, he has made the appointments at the unacknowledged insistence of Tony Abbott, he is pusillanimous.

What he should have done is to say this:

“No, Prime Minister. Under the legislation, it is I who must make these appointments, not you; in my view, the people you suggest are too partisan themselves to be likely to recommend candidates for the ABC and SBS boards on the basis of merit alone, and the public will think their appointment absurd.

“If you do not like the process laid down by the legislation, then repeal or amend it. If you don’t think you can get such amendments past the Senate, then the law must stand, and I will make appointments that accord with that law, and my own judgment.

“Of course, you are always at liberty to require my resignation, and if you do so, I will feel at liberty to explain why I have been sacked.”

Jonathan Holmes is an Age columnist and a former presenter of the ABC’s Media Watch program.

141 comments so far

Howard's board stacking failed miserably. 2 out of 4 putting presumably 1 in 2 unusual names to Turnball is not going to go anywhere even close to what Howard did. You might find the politics unsettling but the practice will be inconsequential. In any event, the ABC would retain the "offensive" programs and their assumed bias even if it's funding was cut by 90%. The ABC will always hire real left leaning journalists and not stack the place with right wing bloggers and opinion writers. Further, it is more than an even money bet Abbott will get booted and the ABC funding returned and future attempts to wreck the place will be further fire proofed and booby trapped. You can't get past the will of the majority of the Australian people for long. ABC is third most trusted institution in Australia. 1st is High Court and 2nd is the Reserve Bank. Don't panic Johnathan but by all means continue to play it like you need to.

Commenter

us1jacck

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 1:33AM

I think the abc has more right winged opinion guests than left leaning ones.

Abbott and other libs pollies appear to refuse to go on the abc as much as other pollies(when has abbott been on Q&A?), so theres something seriously wrong with the right- winged attitudes, because other pollies are happy to go on obviously right-winged shows like bolt, but abbotts right-wingers are not happy to go on the abc?

It appears to me theres a right-winged mob that want to destoy the abc so murdoch can get grubbie hands on it, and these appointments are the gate-ways to the process......the right-wingers are all about lining their own pockets in my opinion...

Commenter

Trivet

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 9:29AM

Howard's stacking of the Board had the effect of shifting the ABC from its traditional spot in the centre of the political spectrum to the right-wing, conservative, IPA, Liberal-biased end, putting it in the same pool as the majority of the commercial media. So much for media diversity.

Commenter

Douglas

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 9:50AM

Trivet, if the ABC is not biased, why do you think the LNP pollies don't want to go on there? Maybe there are security risks with angry abusive out of control uni students?

Commenter

Shaking Eagle

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 9:59AM

Shaking E....out of control angry students?...don't make me laugh....anyone with an opinion that opposes the right-wingers is cast into the outers by the right-wingers.....and why won't they go on the abc?...welllll....because they're a bunch of sookys(rich,privledged) who want to have their own way all the time?

Commenter

Trivet

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 11:05AM

C'mon Jonathon the ABC is even to the left of the ALP. It sits out in Greens territory in its views and editorial policy. It does some great work and has some great programs but is terribly biased to the left. Every time it has a review about bias it gets one of its left wing mate to do it and low and behold they find no bias.

Commenter

mh

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 11:08AM

@my, I'd ask you to substantiate your view that reviews of ABC independence have been biased but as you just made that up, I realise it could prove difficult.

Commenter

Dags

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 1:30PM

@Shaky Eagle: "Trivet, if the ABC is not biased, why do you think the LNP pollies don't want to go on there?"

Maybe it's because they know they'll be asked some hard questions. The Liberals, with their hard Right policies, can't defend them rationally, so they look instead for outlets which will give them an easier ride.

@MH: "C'mon Jonathon the ABC is even to the left of the ALP. It sits out in Greens territory in its views and editorial policy."

An evidence-free assertion from MH. My observation is that the ABC News & Current Affairs are biased to the Right. Not massively, but enough for me to notice. This is, of course, connected to the ranting for decades now of the Tory commetariat that the ABC is biased against the Libs. In the absence of powerful counter-blasts, the natural tendency is to trim one's sails and play it safe.

Finally, it can't be ignored that there is a vested interest in this on the part of the Murdoch press, home of some of the most vigorous ABC-bashers. Newpapers are gradually migrating on line and the threat is greatest for tabloids. Internet advertising, however, can't command the same rates as print advertising. This undermines the financial model of newspapers. The solution that proprietors want is to set up a paywall, but people won't pay if they can get a reasonable substitute for free.

The ABC and, in Britain, the BBC, present an insuperable barrier to Rupert Murdoch's plans to have his papers (I won't call them NEWSpapers) phase profitably onto the Internet. There is no valid public policy reason to solve the problem with Murdoch's business model by either strangling the ABC or destroying its credibility. Technological changes destroy business models. Get used to it.

Commenter

Greg Platt

Location

Brunswick

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 1:35PM

No Trivet, the students behaved like out of control privileged sooks, which is a shame as I agreed with them. They did not do themselves any favours with their poor performance. As for your last statement, again, if the ABC was rightwing biased, then LNP poliies would get their own way if they were to go on there, so your rant does not make sense. And rich and privileged? You mean like Kevin Rudd? Or do you actually believe ALP pollies are all blue collar strugglers?

Commenter

Shaking Eagle

Date and time

July 09, 2014, 1:38PM

Dags I remember for one of the most recent reviews they used some guy from the BBC. Are you serious. The BBC is more left than the ABC. And they said they used him because he was "Independent" Ha!!!